brett brett and megyn kelly will be back just about an hour from now for the debate in danville, kentucky. i'll see you on your local fox broadcast station. for the journalist of fox news, thanks for checking in. it's prime time on america's choice for news and information. here comes mr. bill. >> bill: "the o'reilly factor" is on. tonight -- >> so joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. >> bill: four years ago, sarah palin went up against joe biden and many think she won that debate. how did the governor prepare and what are the vice president's weak points? sarah palin will be on "the factor" tonight. >> i've always been a catholic and middle class working person. i had to stand up for my faith. vice president biden, i think he sold out to the system. >> bill: a traditional values group attacking mr. biden and using his catholic faith to do it. is that fair? the culture warriors will

analyze. >> the majority of americans are in an ugly mood. >> bill: back in 1994, barak obama promoting the cause of affirmative action. this week the supreme court began another affirmative action case. megyn kelly will report. caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. "the factor" begins right now. hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. the upcoming vice presidential debate, that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. the pressure is on congressman paul ryan who is warming up to debate vice president biden in less than an hour. mr. ryan has never debated in a world wide forum. while mr. biden has. so it is crunch time for the

congressman. mitt romney and the republicans are counting on ryan to continue the momentum and to at least parry anything vice president biden says. can he do it? that is the drama of the debate in kentucky this evening. since the campaign began, the obama team has not dealt with the media very much. even though the media loves the president. the last white house news conference, seven months ago! can you believe it? mr. obama does some soft news, like the late night shows and the view. but rarely sits for policy interviews. i've interviewed the president twice. but indications are he will dodge "the factor" this year. we hope he doesn't. he wants to reach independent voters, this is the place. obviously any interview he does with us will get world wide attention. vice president biden is even worse in the serious media. he's done few national tv interview views and rarely does he talk to local tv people. he's never been on "the factor," although i will talked to him on

the phone. the question is why? why is the obama-biden team hiding? the answer is their record. this is an awful lot of bad stuff. just this week the libya situation put the president on the defensive. the economy speaks for itself. so the only place the voters can really see the obama-biden ticket under pressure is in the debates. on the other side we're hoping governor romney will sit for an interview with us. we're negotiating that right now. we'll have an update for you on monday. generally speaking, mr. romney has been more accessible than president obama, but it is true the romney campaign is playing it very safe. at the debate tonight, vice president biden is the experienced hand. he's 27 years older than paul ryan and biden knows how to attack. the congressman is an unknown quantity when it comes to dealing with this kind of pressure. but talking points expects mr. ryan to be armed with panels that might slow down mr. biden

who will most likely go after ryan hard. be interesting to see hot congressman handles that. that's a memo. top of the story, four years ago it was sarah palin debating joe biden. >> all you got to do is go down union street and go to katy's restaurant or walk into home depot where i spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years. >> say it ain't so, joe, there you go again pointing backwards again, though you prefaced your whole comment with the bush administration. dog gone t let's look ahead and tell americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. >> bill: governor palin joins us now from scottsdale, arizona. first of all, what are vice president biden's weak points in a debate? >> oh, my buddy, joe biden, you mean besides his penchant for making stuff up? i think he's kind of known for some of that.

but who am i to speak of someone's weaknesses? let me talk about his strengths. his strengths would be his innate ability it seems to say the wrong thing at just the right time. that really helps to illustrate and illuminate his boss, barak obama's very odd decisions and policies and judgments. >> bill: but you got to get him there -- if you want to go into gaffeville, you got to get him into that area. now, when you were preparing to debate -- >> you don't have to get him. like i say, it's natural. it's innate. it's been fundamental over these four decades -- >> bill: he didn't make that many gaffes with you. i mean, basically the headline out of the palin and biden debate was that you held your own. that was the headline. it wasn't that biden screwed up. when you were preparing to debate him, governor, did they say, look, this is how you go about it, this is how you get joe biden off track, because look, he's got stuff that he's going to say, he's been

preparing, you prepared. ryan has been preparing. how do you get him out of his game? how do you get him off track? >> well, that wasn't my goal was to get anybody off track during my vp run on the republican ticket four years ago. in fact, the strategy handed me by the mccain campaign was set of no cards probably -- note cards, six inches cards saying here, memorize these. it had to do with foreign policy issues which were not top of the ticket in terms of issues at the time. it was the economy. we should have talked more about the economy and how barak obama would lessen opportunities for economic recovery at the time. instead, i was asked to memorize a whole lot of things about foreign policy that weren't as relevant in the voters' minds has the economy was. so looked at the note cards over a number of days and finally realizing how inconsistent and a

bit convoluted some of the answers were at some point the candidate just has to kind of chuck those and decide, i will stand on my own record, my own philosophy, my own principles, making sure they coincide with the top of the ticket's views and we'll go from there in the debate. >> bill: you are went rogue and threw the cards away and were yourself and that's what happened. tonight the vice president is going to throw -- try to throw, and i'm sure did he this to you. let me ask you that question first. you were considered a neofight. governor of alaska. very similar to ryan. this is the first time he's really had this kind of scrutiny. did biden fry to shake you? do you remember if he tried to intimidate you at all? >> i don't think so. paul ryan, a little different scenario. he's had his seven terms in congress and he will be explaining, i'm sure, what sop of the congressional decisions that have been made that have perhaps contributed to sop of

the problems. but then again, joe biden was in the senate for decades and he'll have to explain some of his past records, too, as a member of the legislative branch that has helped create some economic woes in our country and create an overburdensome and overbearing federal government in our lives. both individuals will have to talk about policies and their past records. >> bill: okay. but i remember when you went out in a debate, one of the first things you said was, can i call you joe? remember that? can i call you joe? it was a little disarming. you kind of disarmed him a little bit. you know, of course, you can call me joe. that kind of thing. a little personal touch. i thought that was wise of you to do it. you basically kind of got out of the policy -- can i call you joe in and see how he would react. i expect some of that tonight. the big thing is going to be medicare. i'll tell you right now, biden will come out and he's going to try to hang ryan with medicare.

that's what he's going to try to do. he's going to say look, you want to hurt the seniors and all the people. and ryan has got to reply in a way that's not too pinheady. is not too much policy. he's got to say something that puts him on the offense, puts be a big dealfense. tonight. do you think medicare is going to be a big deal? >> it will be a big deal, but what joe biden will do, which i think is kind of stereo typical of all democrats, he'll play on emotions instead of the data, the facts, the numbers that speak for themselves. what paul ryan and the republican ticket represents will be this fact, bill, that if you want medicare to continue, if you want social security to continue, if you want these safety nets in our society, then we have to make sure that we have a budget that -- >> bill: you have to sell it. >> that will allow these programs to not become bankrupt. >> bill: absolutely. >> joe biden will try to skip

that. >> bill: you have to sell it. ryan has got to sell it and he's got to sell it in a way that puts the vice president on the defense. it's a tactical game. it's like a chess game. did you enjoy that debate -- last question. was that fun for you to do that and how did you feel immediately afterward? relieved? how did you feel? >> i loved the debate and i wish that we would have had more than one. remember, at the time, bill, i had a 16 week old baby when i jumped on the national scene and i had a son, my oldest, who was deployed in iraq at the time. so i was able to keep things in perspective coming from a personal point of view that kept things -- in perspective, knowing with a really mattered and knowing how important it was that we hack particular late what our plan was for future generations. >> bill: were you nervous? >> no. no. >> bill: not nervous. not at all? >> did i look nervous?

>> no. >> you need to read my book "going rogue being" because i explained that background stuff. there is hilarious stuff in there that talk about what it was like to prepare and how wonderful it was to have wonderful people around me in the vice presidential debate and those good people, many whom are still by my side. it was some good recollections in the book. >> bill: governor, thanks for helping us out tonight. next up, democrat bob beckel will reply to sarah palin. later, vice president biden's catholic faith being used against him in a political ad. we'll show you that, upcoming. dad vo: ok, time for bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪

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>> bill: the big vice presidential debate in kentucky this evening, here now the co-host of the fife, bob beckel. did you learn anything from the governor? >> knoll a hope local -- not a

whole lot. it's difficult to throw yourself back into the debate with biden because she had a different goal. this one, i think you're on the money when you say ryan has to figure out how to put biden on the defensive. that's tough. >> bill: biden is not -- i was surprised that biden did not defeat sarah palin in the debate. it wasn't that she beat him. it was a stalemate. i was surprised. >> yeah, expectations were very low for her. the fact she stood up on the stage and made it through. >> bill: and made it through pretty well. she was feisty. she looked relaxed. she looked relaxed. she wasn't intimidated by biden. now, ryan, what is he, 42 years younger? oh, my god. biden is 93? is that all? >> it's close. >> bill: he's almost as old as you are. >> that's very funny. >> bill: that's right. you worked with him. he doesn't like the media. he doesn't like to mix it up. this is not what he relishes. barak obama kind of likes the joust. biden doesn't like the joust.

>> that's why he wouldn't come out with you. why would he? >> bill: to make me look like an idiot. that's why. if your position is strong and your belief system is powerful, you can come on here and do pretty well. obama did pretty well the first time he was on here. >> he did. sarah said one thing, let's not look back when biden was hitting on the last eight years of the republican administration. it's exactly the reverse now. ryan is going to want to look back and biden will want to look forward. >> here is where it all hinges on. >> bill: if they get bogged down in all this minutia about the figures and facts, because ryan knows his stuff. he's a budget guy. he's got to be able to -- ryan's got to be able to sell it. i don't know -- i think the theme is going to be you guys don't know how to manage the economy at all. and you screwed it up and you don't know what cure doing and you got a $16 trillion debt and we can fix it.

>> i think that's where ryan is going. >> he may get to that last point and then you'll say how and they don't have a plan to fix it. >> bill: yeah, they do. they have the reagan plan. >> he said he's going to cut taxes 20% and increase the military. save social security, medicare and then we're going to have a balanced budget by having tax loopholes shut. he won't name one loophole. >> i -- >> bill: biden will go mostly medicare to get the older people back. >> he should. >> bill: ryan has to be prepared. he has to be prepared to say this is our plan. he can't just fumble around and try to do the two step. he has to say it. you don't think he's got it? he's got to have that answer. >> does he need to have the answer? yes. does he have it? no. >> bill: you think he's going to do the two step? >> i think he's going to get in the weeds with a bunch of statistics and people will get lost on it and biden will be good old joe and plow over him. >> bill: and then he wins. >> in the end, does it matter who wins the debate? >> bill: do you know why it

matters? it matters for romney more than obama. >> i agree with that. >> bill: because if ryan is able to beat visually like romney beat the president, then the momentum just cascades like that. if it's a stalemate, it doesn't mean anything. if biden wins, it gives the obama people a little bump. >> this illusion that there is some momentum going for -- that momentum for the last debate ended this last week. >> bill: the polls are still going. >> i do polls for a living. i look at it every day. today these guys bottomed out over the weekend. now we're back to a margin, if the election were held today, obama would win. he would win ohio. >> bill: i put it together in ohio might go for the president. but nevada, colorado, north carolina, virginia and florida all look like they're going for romney. >> you have to run that whole stage. you think he's going to do that? this is mitt romney. >> the suffolk people pulled out of north carolina, virginia and florida saying romney has got it. we're not going to poll again. >> who said they pulled out?

>> bill: the head of the polling. >> i heard that guy. with all due respect, he's a liberal pollster who doesn't frankly know what he's talking about. they haven't pulled out of florida yet. >> bill: he's not going to poll in those three states because he says romney will win. >> i know they polled last night. >> bill: the only reason i'm bringing that up is you were dismissing the romney momentum and some people say it shouldn't be dismissed. bob beckel. directly ahead, laura ingraham on the security embarrassment in libya. later, megyn kelly, a big affirmative action case in texas. she's in kentucky and we'll get a preview of the debate from her point of view. all that after these messages

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>> bill: in the impact segment tonight, new u.s. diplomat arrived in libya to take the place of christopher steves. that as criticism mounts over the obama administration protected the americans in that country. the obama campaign is calling all of the criticism political. >> the entire reason that this has become the political topic it is is because of mitt romney and paul ryan. it's a big part of their stump speech. and as reckless and irresponsible. >> bill: with all due respect to her, that's more bologna than you could possibly fit on any sandwich. joinings from washington, fox news analyst, laura ingraham. here is a question going forward. i just want to explain if the folks did not see my talking points memo on the libyan situation, i hope that they go to billoreilly.com and look at it because there is no doubt -- stephanie cutter can stand there all day long and jump up and

down. there is no doubt this is a mess. the administration mishandled it from the time they with drew the security teams out of there to the time it happened, to the time they miscategorized why it happened. >> until today when she went on with brett brett and embarrassed herself. >> bill: everybody knows that. any fair minded person, only zealots don't know. here is the question, though: do the voters care about this? >> bill, yesterday fox news released a new poll showing that the president's handling of foreign policy, his approval on that has dropped to 46%. this is obviously in the aftermath of the disassembling on libya and two-thirds of those who responded said that they were concerned about the administration's handling, specifically of the libyan mess. i believe the american people, bill, are not as cynical as those in the white house. they don't view everything politically, but they do care about the dignity and security of the united states and our diplomats abroad.

and frankly, what stephanie cutter said today and what she continued to try to sputter about on bret baier's "special report" tonight was really quite abominable. the idea that to ask a question or to ask questions or demand the answers -- >> bill: they're trying to make it a political thing, but it's not working. >> that's all they too is make things political. they don't answer questions. they were camped out at scooter libby's house for how many weeks? meanwhile, we haven't heard from ambassador rice, really, since she -- >> bill: somebody should try to get the ambassador. >> has to be ashamed of herself. >> bill: fox news asked likely voters, president obama's handling of libya among good, bad, what? approve of the president's handling of libya. 37%. disapprove, 46%. unsure, 17. so the folks obviously think he made a mistake. the question and it's hard to answer -- is that going to influence their vote? is that going to make independents say, you know what?

i've had enough, i'm going to go to romney. >> i think it's precisely the issue that trains the mind. you have something really at stake, american security, and four dead americans, number one. number two, you have administration officials on tape saying things that were verifiably untrue, according to what the administration itself was briefing congress a few days after the attack. so i think bill, you're not talking about this before, but i think the country is really hungering for leadership. forget republican and democrat. they're really hungering for people to govern and the president -- >> bill: you were romney in the foreign policy debate in boca raton, would you lead with this? >> well, i would talk about american trust. >> bill: i would lead with this. if i was romney, i would take this and just go boom. why don't you explain what happened here? how do these people say, why

don't you just tell me as an american, i would like to know what the heck happened. >> i think the american people deserve answers when four americans are dead and we have two security agents saying they were begging for security. why wasn't -- who did it? who made the mistake. >> bill: i think it maybe hillary clinton. thanks very much. plenty more ahead. this evening, vice president biden under fire and his catholic faith is being used to light the fuse. culture warriors on that. then megyn kelly on the score hearing a big affirmative case. she also has a report from kentucky on the vp debate. we hope you stay tuned for those reports so anyway, i've been to a lot of places.

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with us the culture warriors jeanine pirro and gretchen carlson. >> i think anything is fair game in politics and keep in mind, last time around we talked a lot about reverend wright with president obama. there has been a lot of discussion about mitt romney being a mormon. i actually think that voters are not going to necessarily pay that close attention to this ad because it's all about the economy and maybe foreign policy now. >> bill: yeah, but the catholic vote is very important because it did go to the obama-biden ticket last time around. this time we got some problems with the birth control mandate for catholic institutions, the same sex marriage deal, the abortion deal and on and on. is it fair? you're a catholic, right? >> i'm a catholic. absolutely. anything that you say, you go out there and say this is who i am and then your actions are inconsistentents with what you say in your belief, that's fair game. >> bill: biden's actions aren't inconsistent. remember, he was the guy that put the president on the spot when he said i think gay --

>> in a year, what you've got to race as close as this is and catholics are 25% of the voters n a twinge state, if you got catholics and they don't believe in same sex marriage, the inclusion in the platform of the democratic platform, taking god out initially out, they say i'm going to align myself with the catholic more like me. >> bill: that lady did. >> when you look at the recent survey. this is from pugh, how many catholics favor same sex marriage? 58%. >> bill: a lot of liberal catholics. no doubt about it. >> that's much higher than those who favor abortion or contraception. >> where is obama down this year? when he ran against mccain, it was 54-45. this year they're 50-50 at the top of the ticket. catholics for romney and for obama. there is a swing issue there. >> bill: also you know, joe biden is a pro choice guy. but he wasn't. in 1982, biden voted for

constitutional amendment to overturn roe v wade in 1982. so in the beginning, like ted kennedy, like edward kennedy, he was pro-life. then as he became -- his party became more liberal, joe biden kind of we want along with the party. now i'm going to put this out. if i were making that ad and i wouldn't do that, i mean, i think that a person's religion should be private. i really do. i would have said, who is the real joe biden? and how -- abortion, that's a way bigger issue for the theology of catholicism. not fort church, but for the theology. abortion is really a big issue. gay marriage, jesus never talked about it. birth control, obviously they didn't have it back then. they're important issues, but not at the level of abortion. then you're getting into the fabric of the theology. >> i think what this does, this is obviously a conservative group that's putting out this ad, but what this does is it

begs then for attack ads about romney being a mormon. >> they haven't really thus far. >> bill: he's consistent with his mormon theology. wait a minute. she's raising an issue. how do you attack romney who is a consistent mormon is this he does what they say. biden is not. >> it raises questions. just wait and see. >> bill: i'm telling you, i don't see any relevance there. they're going to go back to the 17th century on it? >> but what they've got it do is now they realize that the catholic vote is so important. >> bill: sure. >> they're trying to alienate him and say he's not a catholic like the rest of us because he -- >> bill: they're trying to marginalize him of. >> it's a smart move. >> bill: i don't believe all is fair in politics. but it may be a smart move. thank you very much. when we come right back, megyn kelly is in kentucky and will is

a preview of the upcoming debate and analyze the latest supreme court affirmative action case. kelly is next dad vo: ok, time for bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪ (sirens) (train horn) ♪

vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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yeah. yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right? my agent, tom, said... [ voice of dennis ] ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident-free... ...but i'm a woman. maybe it's a misprint. does it look like a misprint? ok. what i was trying... [ voice of dennis ] silence. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. are you in good hands? >> bill: thanks for staying with us. i'm bill o'reilly. miss megyn is in danville, kentucky, along with bret baier to anchor coverage of the vice president debate.

i hear it's chaos. i hear they even lost your luggage which is totally unacceptable. is that true? >> god bless wal-mart and the black sweater they provided me for $12. but as you can see, my friend at fox news managed to get me a suit for the evening and look at old melee. my bag has been with me for 20 years and headed to detroit. she did come through. >> the airline got it back to you. we're not going to embarrass the airline burks it went to detroit. >> we're not? >> bill: you want to embarrass the airline? >> just saying. both me and shepard smith. we were just going, you know, one city to one city and the bags didn't show up. >> bill: all right. i'm not going to name it. you want to name it? >> they charged me an extra fee and i paid an extra fee. yet it did not come. >> bill: you need a refund on the fee. >> i recovered. >> bill: the secret service let you in this time. they didn't give you a hard time like they did in denver.

is there anything we should know behind the scenes on this debate? >> here is what you need to know. i'm in spin alley, this is where they come after to tell us that they won. right now people are listening to the debate that's going to be piped in overhead. it starts at 9:00 o'clock. but they're listening to the buy guy from the commission of presidential debate tell us that the audience isn't supposed to clap. everybody is supposed to be good. let martha raddatz do her thing. it's a quiet day. the security here was noticeably less than when you had the two guys at the tops of the ticket like in denver. such a big day for news people and including for abc news whose reporter will be moderating this. this is one of the articles i found on the abc news site talking about the big debate tonight. paul ryan, known for his conscientious diet and exercise regime, planned to eat a light dinner of salmon and rice. after having had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch today, joe biden is plan ago meal of grilled chicken with spaghetti and spald. then they talked about how the

biden team munched on m and m's and animal crackers and that is the most exciting nugget i have for you. >> bill: we have the predebate meal which is always important. i worked with martha raddatz in boston up there. she's a very good reporter. but she's not going to have much to do tonight. i mean, you know how these things go. >> i think if she's smart, she'll stay out of the way. who knows more about the issues than those two guys? she doesn't know more about them. >> bill: i would provoke them. you know me -- all right now, look what he said about you and all that kind of thing. you used to cover the supreme court before she was promote to do this anchor job. in the supreme court this week, there is another affirmative action case. this one is a student tried to get into the university of texas, did not. saying my grades are better than some minorities and that's what they're hearing. the reason that this is interesting is president obama in 1994 reacted to a college professor named charles murray

who wrote a book called "the bell curve" which said we shouldn't have race based affirmative action. it should be based on money. here is what the president said. >> mr. murray has apparently decided that white america is ready for a return to good old-fashioned racism. so long as it's artfully packaged and can admit for exceptions like colin powell. it's easy to say the basis for his calculations. after watching their income stagnate or decline, the majority of americans are in an ugly mood and deeply resent any advantages, real or perceived, than minorities may enjoy. >> bill: so we haven't moved since 1994. it's now 2012. we haven't moved. it's the same issue in front of the court. correct? >> well, we've moved a bit because the supreme court eroded the ability to use race as a factor in college admissions about ten years ago. they still said it's okay, but can only be one factor that colleges consider. you can't have quotas. now they're revisiting that

potentially. i don't think this will happen based on the way the oral argument went. this could lead to the end of affirmative action at the college level. i think what's more likely to happen is that they're going to erode the ability to use race as a factor even more than they already have. >> bill: this student says that she was denied admittance into the university of texas because people of color who had grades that weren't as good as hers were admitted over her thereby denying her the position. is there anything else in play? >> no. that's it. she has gone to another college and graduated. this isn't going to help her, but it will help other students at colleges all across the country. she says look, this university in texas takes all students who graduate in the top 10% of their class and then if you are not in the top 10% like i wasn't, then you have to fight for it. my resume was better than the resume of certain people of

color and they got chosen over me purely on the basis of skin color. there are conservatives on the supreme court now, including the chief justice in another case, who said this business of difficultying us up by vase a sordid business and they do not seem inclined to continue that tradition in this country, which was born a long time ago when the country looked a lot different. we certainly didn't have a black supreme court justice, a black secretary of state as we did under president bush, black president as we do now. and we've evolved. we've evolved over time. even ten years ago when the supreme court upheld affirmative action to some extent in the college admissions level, it was sandra day o'conner, now the court is more conservative. even they they said this isn't going to be forever. we'll take another look at this. >> bill: you think the administration may this case, at least partially. >> i think so. >> bill: all right. look forward to your coverage later on. i want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making "killing kennedy" the number one

nonfiction book in america. next sunday it will debut on the number one spot. if you can believe it, "killing lincoln" will be number six after more than one year in the marketplace. the children's book, number one on the juvenile list and amazing situation, again, we thank every one of you who is supporting the books. in a moment, we will go back to kentucky where white house correspondent ed henry and romney correspondent carl cameron are standing by. that report moments away

>> bill: back of the book segment, let's go back to kentucky and talk to ed henry and carl cameron, two of the correspondents covering the presidential race. inside stuff on vice president biden tonight. >> yeah. i spoke to a senior democratic a short time ago who said when vice president biden started his

debate prep, the first one did not go well. that he was all over the place. he had not debated in four years, was a little rusty. there was concern in the obama camp, remember the president was pretty rusty in denver as well. and david axelrod and some of the president's top aides came in, work with the vice president in his next few sessions. don't democrats down playing there was a problem. saying it's all fine. they think the vice president is ready. it's significant because he has a lot of work to do, clean-up work because of the denver debate. >> bill: did they go to this in washington? did they go to washington with biden? >> no, they went back to delaware, his home. he took this whole week off. they were behind closed doors. i'm told they had at least six sessions where they met for an hour to 90 minutes behind closed doors, intense sessions. something i just picked up, is a notice being circulated by a top obama campaign official to fellow democrats tonight that says two things. number one, we got our butts

kicked last time. it uses slightly harsher word. secondly says, tonight is ours. significant because it suggests that the democrats are admitting they didn't get it done last time, but raising expectations that tonight vice president biden is going to make it right. >> bill: okay. on the other side, paul ryan. what are you hearing? >> they did nine mock rehearsals with ted olson, the famous lawyer who argued so many cases in front of the supreme court. also in a very talented prosecutor and attorney spent hours watching joe biden's former videotaped debate performances. he learned biden's gestures. he learned biden's ability to be very bomb pastic and loud on the stump and then suddenly go to a dramatic whisper. the romney campaign was constantly buffeting ryan with these types of examples of biden's debate skills trying to prep him for it. and one of the things that the romney campaign continues to say

over and over again is that the format in which the candidates are seated next to each other isn't going to lend itself to the type of major league brawl that so many people have been talking about because it's so hard to call somebody a name when you're literally touching knees beneath the table (i don't have any problem doing that. >> yeah. joe biden, maybe -- >> there is a concern it won't happen. >> bill: you know that. if you're a pinhead, your a pinhead. if you're across the room or here, it's the way it is. henry, i want to talk to you about the little dustup you had with jay carney about libya. i used it in my talking points memo. we were laying out the time line and how the administration really booted the whole thing. let's watch henry and jay carney. go. >> did you and others mislead the public because you didn't want to admit there was a terrorist attack? >> absolutely not. the president of the united states referred to it as an act of terror immediately after it occurred. >> then why were you at the podium for several days saying we don't know if it's terrorism.

>> i never said that. i never said that. there was an issue about the definition of terrorism. this is an act of terrorism. the president made clear. >> bill: okay. i don't think the president made anything clear. when you hear stuff like that, you got to still be respectful. you can't say like, hey you pinhead, come on. we know what you did. why don't you just admit it? that's what i would say. what did you think of it? >> i stick to the facts and the bottom line is, you know, that what jay carney said to me yesterday in response there was not exactly squaring up with what he and ambassador soup rice and others did. which is that yes, the president briefly mentioned that it could have been terrorism on the first day after the four were killed of the but then the next week, week and a half, the administration had varying accounts. terrorism, no, it's the anti-muslim video, et cetera. so their story was not straight. here is why it matters tonight, is that the first debate was all about the economy and domestic issues with the presidential nominees. tonight's it's half and half. domestic and foreign policy.

so for the first time, the moderator, as well as paul ryan potentially can bring up libya. this terrorist attack on the president's watch just two months before the election -- >> bill: if ryan can bring tup, i'd be shocked, it would be like that 47%. last word cameron. >> the thing is, this is escalated to another level today. the obama campaign argued with a big stretch that the only reason this whole benghazi investigation is becoming a thing is because of the romney-ryan campaign. >> bill: good! >> as if the congressional investigation -- >> bill: if i were ryan, i got to cut you off 'cause we got to hit the computer. if i were ryan, i'd say yeah, that's right. we want to know what happened! put it on us! tell us what happened! i'd turn it right around. real quick. i got to go. >> the romney ryan campaign has been criticized for not doing it enough. now the obama campaign is trying to blame it on them. >> bill: ryan has to -- the f.b.i. and c.i.a. are